Blog Writings

Courage. It's an interesting concept. Except it isn't a concept of course, is it. It's an experience. And a choice.

I am afraid of big waves. Ok, terror ice-drips through me when they're over 4 feet high. My ex surf-lifesaver Dad laughs, 'it's only water, it can't hurt you, you know'. But, it can. Balanced on a board, screaming (literally) down the rushing slope of green-muscle-water, is no time to panic. Or to decide it's a good time to jump off the board. Stay on the board, Narelle. Courage pin-pricks me, as a fine-laser focus, exquisite pico-second presence and sensitivity kick in. Eyes on the shore. Forward focused. Whhhoooosh!!! Speed of sunlight.

I'm on a Motorbike. It's five years ago, and, with no other way to get to the yoga studio, I'm clinging behind my mate; a koala in yoga tights. A thirty minute ride at an unspeakable speed, (don't ask), into 'town'. Is there a choice here? Apparently not: do I want to get to the studio? Yep. Leather up, alien-helmet on. (The head-gear alone terrifies me). The engine starts. We putter along at oh, about 10-20km/hr. Mate! Can I change my mind?! Every cell in me whines that we need to get off. Now. Nope; we're off. Zooooom.

That week we drove through bushfires, through winds that dry-eucalyptus-leaf blew us across the road....and through the most humungous blinding primal hail-and-rain-storm my friend later tells me, she has ever encountered in her 12 years of biking. Courage. In the moment. I called in the Light. She rode. Second by second, meters at a time. Breathing, sensing what we could of the road. Terrified.

Writing and launching, (never mind delivering), my first online course is a lot like both of these experiences. Like a well chosen wave, I've set it up, the momentum builds. Shit! I'm on the damn board!! There is nothing to do now but RIDE the force that rises beneath my feet, my legs. Whoosh! Stay on the board, Narelle. Courage. Speed of Light.

And, like all of us, I do not travel alone. Blessed, I am, with two competent riders at my side. My web designer and my Vid-and-Audio Angel. I surf the wave, I call in the Light, and they 'drive'. We each, exponents in our fields, 'making it so'. Down the rushing clear green-glass wall, sensing the hail-drenched road. Courage in comradeship, I am.

Embodied Terrain

Narelle Carter-Quinlan is a global leading exponent on yoga for scoliosis and embodied spinal anatomy, based in Brisbane, Australia. An anatomist, her unique body of work integrates the practice of yoga with the embodiment of your anatomy and embryology.

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